'Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War' Feels Like The Moment Loot Boxes Went Too Far

We’ve reached a point in the gaming industry where I didn’t think I’d be able to be surprised by the announcement of a game adding loot boxes to its microtransaction pool, but I have to admit that I genuinely cannot believe what I'm seeing with Middle-Earth: Shadow of War.

Shadow of War, the sequel to the much-beloved Shadow of Mordor, is a single-player game rooted in the strength of its Nemesis System, a complex gameplay mechanic that allows you to control and command various Orcs who get stronger the more you fight them, learn your strengths and weaknesses, and can be invaluable assets or brutal enemies throughout the game.

But in what almost reads like a parody, Warner Bros. announced that the sequel, Shadow of War, was getting a “market,” a new way to get Orcs and other gear in the game.

“An important aspect of the Nemesis System now comes in forging, customizing and leading your own army of unique Orc followers against the fortresses of Mordor,” the announcement reads. “There are different ways to do this, including dominating Orcs by exploring the vast open-world and encountering them as part of Orc society, or players can acquire Orcs and other items through the Market (in-game store). Through the Market, players can purchase Loot Chests, War Chests, XP Boosts and Bundles.”

In short, though you will be able to buy Orc/weapon-based loot boxes with in-game currency, you will also be able to buy them with out-of-game currency, ie. real life money.

The loot box trend is spreading like a virus across the land, and what we’re seeing here is a form more virulent than I think anything I’ve seen before, at least in the console space.

OverwatchBlizzard

While most will grumble about loot boxes to a certain extent, there are some practices that seem universally accepted at this point. Buying digital card packs to expand your virtual card collection for games like Gwent or Hearthstone. Buying loot boxes full of purely cosmetic items like skins or sprays or icon for games like Overwatch or Heroes of the Storm.

But lately, things are started to tip into a more uncomfortable zone. I’m still weirded out by the upcoming Battlefront 2 loot box system which seems to be selling multiplayer character abilities and upgrades outright. But now here in Shadow of War, an entirely single player game, you’re paying money to gamble for what…essentially cheat codes? Stronger Orcs and weapons than what you currently have, paying for the privilege of…not playing the game?

It seems so absurd that it must be destined to fail, but the psychologically addicting properties of loot boxes and other gambling mechanics are well known at this point, so I’m certainly not going to rule out that somehow, this might actually work. Players may be paying for loot boxes of single player content, and incredibly valuable content at that, it seems. While other games have dabbled in this before (Deus Ex selling Praxis Kits recently was not great), this seems like a new level of terribleness, one that’s a troubling sign for the industry as a whole. We are slowly turning every game into a slot machine, even ones where this kind of system makes zero sense, and in addition to extracting money from wallets, it’s important to recognize how this may affect players who do not pay.

The counter-argument to this is just “don’t buy it.” That’s good advice in this case, and even as someone who has spent plenty of money on Hearthstone cards or Overwatch skins, I will not be buying these ridiculous Shadow of War boxes with anything but in-game currency (and even then I’d rather just get Orcs and weapons the old-fashioned way). But with that said, when you introduce loot boxes as a revenue mechanic, especially when you’re literally selling power, there’s a good chance that actually affects how the game itself plays.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of WarWB

While Shadow of War still isn’t out yet, I now have to wonder how this “market” affects balance. Given that WB wants to sell loot boxes, will the game be able to be completed playing without them, or will you start running into content so hard that you need shell out for those better Orcs and weapons unless you want to spend the next 30 hours grinding? This is precisely how pay-to-win mobile games work, where content slows to a halt unless players spend thousands of hours or hundreds of dollars to make serious progress. And while I don’t think Shadow of War will be that extreme, a game without loot boxes that drop powerful in-game content wouldn’t even have to ask this question in the first place.

I also find it ironic that the Middle-Earth series, a game that redefined open-world, territory-based gameplay with its interesting and fun Nemesis system, is willing to shove the process of fighting and taking over Orcs aside and just flat-out sell the damn things if you don't want to deal with all that pesky gameplay. It would be kind of hilarious if it wasn’t so sad. At this rate, I genuinely don’t know when this will end. Will Elder Scrolls VI sell “Daedric Chests” full of rare items so you can skip questing? Will God of War 4 have a “Spartan Knapsacks” full of boosts and weapons? Sure it sounds goofy, but no less so than Shadow of War selling damn Orcs out of loot boxes, and it feels like this is where we’re headed.

It is no secret why loot boxes are taking over the industry. They’re incredibly addicting and cost practically nothing to make compared to content-rich DLC. Most of the time, they probably bring in as much, if not way more revenue than traditional DLC. I will not be surprised if paid DLC starts to die off completely, replaced purely by loot boxes going forward, and honestly, we’re already seeing that happen with games like GTA V and Mass Effect Andromeda. Why spend thousands of man hours and millions of dollars designing new levels and quests to sell for $15 when all you have to do is sell three $5 loot boxes adding some new classes or weapons or items a sprinkling at a time?

This Shadow of War case is gross, though it isn’t the first breach in this area and it won’t be the last. But it feels different, like we’ve crossed some new line and descended one level deeper into microtransaction hell. I don’t know where the bottom is, if this isn’t it.